The 11 Best AT&T Phones, Ranked Top to Bottom

Find the Best Phones Available at AT&T

When you peruse AT&T's selection of phones, you'll find devices from Apple, Samsung, LG and more. But AT&T also features phones you won't find anywhere else — it's the only carrier to offer Samsung's durable Galaxy S8 Active — and if you're looking to keep your phone costs down, there’s a number of budget handsets, particularly under AT&T's prepaid offerings. Here's a closer look at the best smartphones AT&T has to offer based on our reviews and analysis.

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1. Samsung Galaxy S8

One quick glance at Samsung's Galaxy S8, and it's easy to see why it's our favorite overall phone. The curved 5.8-inch AMOLED display is a slight to behold, the way it elegantly slopes over the sides of the handset. It's also the best screen in a smartphone right now, with a resolution of 2960 x 1440, vivid colors, and excellent viewing angles. The Galaxy S8's camera might not quite measure up to that in the iPhone 8 Plus, but it's still a joy to shoot with. Our only gripe is the poor placement of the fingerprint sensor, a hair to the right of the lens. The Galaxy S8 comes in a slightly larger model, the S8 Plus, that measures 6.2 inches and costs an extra $100.

Photo Credit: Tom's Guide

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2. iPhone 8 Plus

The iPhone 8 may share a design with its predecessors, but under the hood, it's an all-new beast. Powering both the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus is Apple's new A11 Bionic chip, the fastest in any smartphone ever. Both models also receive a glass back, to enable wireless charging. And the LCD displays have been refined with Apple's True Tone technology, which adjusts white balance to ambient lighting. The $799 iPhone 8 Plus is the better value, thanks to its Portrait Mode-enabled dual cameras; still, either way you go, the latest iPhones are some of the best handsets AT&T offers.

Photo Credit: Tom's Guide

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3. Samsung Galaxy Note 8

The Galaxy Note 8 is quite expensive for a smartphone, but then it offers capabilities no device can match. Take the S Pen, for example — the Note 8's defining accessory. Samsung's enhancements to the S Pen mean you can now use it to translate text on the fly, by hovering over it with the stylus. You can also use it to quickly jot down notes by starting to write even while the screen is off. But in other respects, the Note 8 is still a great overall phone, thanks to its gorgeous 6.3-inch AMOLED display, speedy Snapdragon 835 processor, and a generous 6GB of RAM. Even its dual cameras are some of the best in class, capable of portrait-style blurred backgrounds, wide angle photography, and 2x optical zoom.

Photo Credit: Tom's Guide

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4. Galaxy S8 Active

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active combines sheer durability with no-compromise performance, and like the S7 Active before it, you'll only find it on AT&T, at least for now. One of the most rugged phones out there, the S8 Active promises to withstand 5-foot drops, as well as 30 minutes of underwater submersion at a maximum depth of 5 feet. But in spite of that, it's still a state-of-the-art smartphone with a gorgeous 5.8-inch AMOLED display, Snapdragon 835 processor, and a gargantuan 4,000-mAh battery that lasts even longer than the one inside the standard Galaxy S8.

Photo Credit: Tom's Guide

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5. LG V30

If listening to music and shooting video are very important to you, the V30 is worthy of consideration. LG's latest flagships totes two cameras: a 16-megapixel main lens with a super-low f/1.6 aperture, as well as a 13-MP wide-angle lens. It also features a bevy of shooting modes and effects designed by film-making professionals that look a bit more convincing than your standard Instagram filter. For audiophiles, the built-in digital-to-analog converter makes music coming out of the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack sound rich and full of range, while movie buffs are sure to appreciate the 6-inch OLED screen. Just make sure to pack a backup battery, as the longevity on a charge is less than stellar.

Photo Credit: Tom's Guide

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6. LG X Venture

This AT&T exclusive isn't the fastest or best-performing smartphone around, but it is one of the most durable. The LG X Venture lasts long on a charge, achieving 11 hours on our battery test. It's also got a rugged design with a grippy, rubberized back, IP68 water resistance, and shock-absorbing corners in the event of a drop. In a pinch, the X Venture's 16-megapixel camera performs admirably, though it is a little slow to capture. But considering what you're paying, the overall package is a lot of phone for a modest price.

Photo Credit: Tom's Guide

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7. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

We love Samsung's Galaxy S8, but there's no shame in choosing the older Galaxy S7 Edge, especially now that the phone's price has been cut by $100. The 12-megapixel camera's dual-pixel sensor speeds up autofocus and the wide f/1.7 aperture lets in more light for great photos even when you're shooting in the dark. The phone itself is a workhorse, too, with a beefy Snapdragon 820 processor and a battery that lasted more than 10 hours on our test. You can save a little more money by opting for the Galaxy S7, also available through AT&T, which lacks the Edge's curved screen, but still features the same great camera.

Adam Ismail is a staff writer at Tom’s Guide, where he covers smartphones, car tech and gaming. His love for all things mobile began with the original Motorola Droid; since then he’s owned a variety of Android and iOS-powered handsets, refusing to stay loyal to one platform. Before joining Tom’s Guide, he designed and edited sports pages for The Star-Ledger, and his work has appeared in Digital Trends and GTPlanet. When he’s not fiddling with the latest devices, he’s at an indie pop show, driving too fast or playing Sega Dreamcast.